The 10,000-Hour Rule

        In Malcolm Gladwell’s novel, Outliers, Gladwell explains the factors that contribute to reaching the highest peak of  success. He argues some factors to success are birthday, family,birth place and how much time one spends on practicing.
       While reading this novel, one of the most relatable and interesting topic was the 10,000 hour rule. The concept of this rule is that to be successful, we have to put in a great amount of effort and time practicing. People that practice for at least 10,000 are more successful than others that do not. I'm not sure how I feel  about practicing for 10,000 hours to be successful but I do know that practice and hardwork is key ingredient to success. The more you practice, the better you get and the more you fall in love with what it is that you are trying to achieve. Gladwell starts of the chapter with Bill Joy who spent hours working with computers before becoming successful.  He attended University of Michigan with one of the most advanced Computer Science programs. Programming practices were limited but he took advantage every time he could practice.  He spent most of his time in the computer center practicing, working in collaboration, and gaining more experience. Yes, Joy did not intend to to be working with software in school but because he was at the right place at the right time, he was hooked and bettered himself. Sometimes we find our passion in places and things we did not intend on. If you seize your opportunities and practice, nothing will stop you from success.
        After Bill Joy, Gladwell discusses the Beatles and their path to success. Prior to their success in America in 1964, the Beatles were invited to play in Hamburg Germany with huge non stop show, hour after hour. While playing at these shows, they got lots of practice and "got better and got more [confident]" (Gladwell 49). In Hamburg, the band played for 8 hours so they had to find new ways to play. The better they got, the more fans, the more exposure and the more practice. The ties into Gladwell's theory on success in the sense that before the Beatles become the best in America, they had already had hours and hours of practice. The shows in Hamburg were live practice. Next Gladwell refers to Bill Gates success who was lucky to live in Lakeside and took advantage of the computer room in his high school and computer access in the university near his home. By taking advantage of his resources, he had extra practice even before going to school (Gladwell 50-54).
      I agree with Gladwell when he argues success comes from a mixture of opportunities, practice and hardwork. Although the novel was published 9 years ago, we can relate. We have a lot of opportunities and the only way to become successful is to grab these opportunities. Everyone is in competition to become the best and if you don't practice and are not serious and passionate about what you do, people will pass by you. Success is not just given to you, you have to work hard to achieve what you want. I remember when I first came to the U.S., I spoke better english than my teachers thought. It was not because I was lucky and english came natural but it was because I had practice in Ghana before coming here. I went to a private school and I was forced to learn english. After I came to the U.S., along with regular english class, I had the opportunity to work outside of class with an english teacher. I took the opportunity and got better. I am not the best english person because I practiced and took advantage of my opportunities, I have gotten better.